the green, starry sky
by caandle
Summary: Lucy's father goes on far too many business trips and Natsu sneaks into her house when he's away so she's never lonely. NALU Fluff. One Shot.


the green, starry sky  
 _by caandle_

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The stars glowed a faint, dull green overhead, some of the points peeling off the ceiling visible even in the darkness of her bedroom. They had been stuck there long ago, had been her favourite addition to her room as a child, and even though her father regularly told her to take them down Lucy refused to. They were old and didn't work half as well as they used to but the nostalgia made her adamant to keep the glow stickers on her ceiling.

Lucy watched as a particularly large star's glow dimmed right before her eyes, shifting slightly on top of her bed into a more comfortable laying position. _"Oi,"_ came a disgruntled voice from beside her. "Watch ya elbows!"

"You could just get off my bed, Natsu." Lucy rolled her eyes as Natsu gasped dramatically, the sound loud against her ear.

"And lay on the _floor?_ Nu-uh, no way Luce. Got the best view of the stars from up here!" Lucy could see the outline of a tanned arm gesture to her ceiling through the faint cracks of illumination from her covered window. She only hummed in response, following the arms direction back up to the dull, green starry sky.

"Thanks for coming." She whispered even though they were alone. The house was empty, bar the two teenagers squashed together on her too-small bed, propped up by numerous fluffy, pink pillows, but Lucy was still anxious about being discovered. Her father wouldn't return until well past midnight and she would be able to see the headlights of his car from behind her curtain as he pulled into the driveway but it didn't alleviate her anxiety. If Jude returned to find his only daughter alone in her bedroom with a boy, Lucy knew she'd be grounded for the rest of her life and confined to the house, all the way into the afterlife.

Natsu huffed a soft laugh. Lucy could feel it as if it were passing through her due to how close their bodies were together, cramped and overlapping due to her bed, and it was as reassuring as the words he spoke next. "What kinda best friend would I be if I let ya get lonely in a big house like this?" His head turned to look at her and he grinned wide, eyes glinting as a stranger's car's light passed through the window as they drove along the street. Lucy returned his grin with a soft smile, shuffling her head forward to rest her forehead against his.

"Still. Thank you."

"Anytime Lucy," Natsu breathed as her eyes fluttered shut, his fingers reaching for a blonde strand as it fell across her temple, pushing it back to its rightful place. The room lit up once more as another car passed but quickly faded to the dark once more, green stars twinkling overhead.

Natsu cleared his throat quietly and shifted onto his back, one hand resting under the back of his neck, eyes searching the starry ceiling. "When's your father out next?"

"Mhm. Friday, I think." Lucy murmured against her pillow. "It's all the way into the city so he won't be home for two days." Jude Heartfilia was a business man who frequently went out of town for meetings and other events. It was an aspect to her childhood she'd long gotten used to but it didn't help the ache of her heart as she was left alone in the house. When it was just her, it reeked off loneliness from every crook and cranny and felt cold against her skin. Lucy didn't like to be alone despite having been exactly that for many, many years – or, well, until _now_. With Natsu.

Ever since he'd found out how often her father went out of town, he made it his mission to climb into her window and keep the loneliness at bay. It was sweet and if she thought on it too much, she'd likely get a little teary-eyed (nobody had really cared that much before). She really did have the best friend in the entire world.

"What… What if we have, like, a sleepover?" Natsu coughed, keeping his eyes firmly rooted onto the ceiling.

Lucy's eyes snapped open and she pushed herself up with one elbow, leaning over Natsu to look at him. "I couldn't ask you to do that! I feel bad enough that you keep me company when father's out. I know it makes you tired and your house is so far away…"

"Lucy," Natsu pinned her with a hard stare. "I _want_ to. It'll be fun! We can eat popcorn and talk through those Disney movies ya like so much. And pizza! I can ask Gray to cover for me, no problem. It'll be easy."

Lucy felt her resolve cracking as Natsu placed his palms against her cheeks, squishing the skin until her lips puckered out like a duck. He snickered at the funny expression, eyes warm. "C'mon, let's have a sleepover! Ohh, wanna do our nails? Girls do that at sleepovers, yeah?"

Lucy batted his hands away with her free arm, rolling her eyes. "That's a stereotype."

Natsu shrugged one shoulder. "I think I can do a pretty mean paint job. You'll have the best nails in school." Lucy laughed, quiet and fond, and the sound of it made Natsu's lips stretch into his familiar, easy grin.

Natsu's grin melted into something smaller, something softer, and he gently twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. "We can probably go out in the gigantic backyard of yours and look at the real stars…"

Lucy's eyes widened and the boy turned his head, cheeks flushing a faint pink barely visible under the darkness of her room. "Only if ya want. I know ya like lookin' at 'em and ya dad doesn't really let ya… The real thing's a little cooler than your ceiling, right?"

"Okay."

"But it's totally up to y - Okay?"

"Let's have a sleepover, Natsu." Lucy giggled at the silly expression plastered on his face. "Let's eat popcorn and sing along to Disney movies with pizza while you give me the best nails in school."

The brightness of Natsu's grin did more than enough to lighten up the room. Lucy returned his with an equally bright smile of her own, stretched wide until her cheeks began to ache.

"Aw, sweet! I'm all fired up!"

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 **A/N:**

hi everybody! This was the first one-shot I wrote after the short break I took from writing my NALU stuff. It's a little short and I wished I did a bit more with it, but here it is! Hope you enjoyed!


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